Interstate 678

Whitestone Parkway

In 1936, New York governor Herbert H. Lehman signed a bill that authorized the construction of the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, which would connect Queens and the Bronx.^[11] At its north end, the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge would connect to Eastern Boulevard (later known as Bruckner Boulevard) via the Hutchinson River Parkway.^[12] The bridge's south end would connect to a new Whitestone Parkway, which led southwest off the bridge to Northern Boulevard.^[12][13] Just south of the bridge, there was to be a three-level interchange between the Whitestone Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway.^[14] Plans for the bridge were completed by February 1937, at which time the state started issuing bonds to fund bridge construction.^[15] The right-of-way for the Whitestone Bridge and Parkway was legally designated in July 1937.^[16]

The Whitestone Bridge and Parkway both opened on April 29, 1939.^[17] Construction on the bridge and parkway had been accelerated in preparation for the 1939 New York World's Fair,^[17] which opened one day after the Whitestone Bridge and Parkway. The new highway was intended as a major thoroughfare to the World's Fair, which was hosted in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, near the Whitestone Parkway's southern end.^[18] In 1953, work began on an interchange between Willets Point Boulevard, Northern Boulevard, and Whitestone Parkway, at the parkway's southern end.^[19][20]

Van Wyck Expressway

In the 1940s, Moses proposed the construction of a system of highways that would traverse the New York City area.^[21] The plan was to cost $800 million (equivalent to $13.6 billion in 2023^[22]), and, in 1945, the city agreed to pay $60 million (equivalent to $805 million in 2023^[22]) of that cost.^[23] Among them was the Van Wyck Expressway, which would stretch from Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport) in the south to Queens Boulevard in the north.^[21] The six-lane expressway was to be built along the path of what was then Van Wyck Boulevard,^[24] and it was to cost $11.65 million.^[25][26] The original street and the freeway were both named after former New York City Mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck, but the pronunciation of "Wyck" was heavily disputed: depending on the person, "Wyck" could rhyme with either "lick" or "like".^[4] The Van Wyck Expressway was to be built to higher standards than New York's parkways, as it was intended to handle truck traffic. The highway would contain three lanes in each direction, as well as cobblestone shoulders.^[27] Several parks and playgrounds were also built along the expressway's route.^[28][27]

In 1946, the city started relocating or demolishing houses in the proposed expressway's right-of-way.^[29][30] The city had acquired 355 houses in the expressway's path,^[30] and it ultimately relocated 263 households,^[31][28] as well as the Van Wyck Avenue Congregational Church.^[28] In some cases, the city government placed existing houses on trailers and rolled them to vacant sites nearby, allowing residents to move back into their houses in as little as 24 to 48 hours.^[32] One four-story apartment building, which housed 35 families, was placed on metal rollers and relocated away from the expressway's path. Normally, new houses would have been built for these families, but there was not enough land to build individual homes for these families.^[33] After some of the houses were relocated, they were sold to military veterans at reduced prices.^[34] The first major contract for the Van Wyck Expressway's construction was awarded in September 1947, when Rusciano and Son was contracted to build retaining walls and utilities along the expressway's right of way.^[35][36]

Construction was delayed several times; the state government had rejected bids for several major contracts, saying the bids were too high.^[37] One of the most complex aspects of the project was the replacement of an overpass carrying the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) near the Jamaica station.^[37][38] The LIRR overpass alone cost $3.2 million, as contractors could not interrupt service on the LIRR corridor, which carried 1,635 trains every twenty-four hours.^[39] The final construction contract for the Van Wyck's first segment was awarded in January 1950.^[27] The segment from Queens Boulevard to Idlewild ultimately cost $17 million.^[28] It opened on October 14, 1950,^[40][41] with a ceremony attended by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey.^[42] The new highway reduced driving time between Idlewild and Manhattan by 20 percent.^[43] Later the same year, the Gull Construction Company was contracted to install "safety plantings" in the median, consisting of shrubs and trees, to separate the different directions of traffic.^[44] New York state officials announced in 1960 that they would install a Jersey barrier in the Van Wyck's median, replacing the plantings, which had not been effective in preventing crashes.^[45]

In April 1949, Dewey signed a contract authorizing a northward extension of the highway to Grand Central Parkway.^[46] This segment was to cost $11.6 million.^[28] The project included widening a segment of Grand Central Parkway between Horace Harding Boulevard (today's Long Island Expressway) and the Kew Gardens Interchange.^[28][47] In addition, a ramp was built from Main Street to the Van Wyck Expressway, and an overpass was built to carry Queens Boulevard above both Main Street and the highway.^[28] The Gull Construction Company received the contract for the segment of the highway between Hoover Avenue and 88th Avenue^[48] in September 1950.^[49][50] A direct ramp from the northbound Van Wyck to Queens Boulevard opened in June 1953; prior to the opening of this segment, the northbound expressway was frequently congested.^[51][52] The extension to Grand Central Parkway opened on November 13, 1953,^[53][54] but the ramps from the Van Wyck Expressway to Main Street were delayed for another year, opening in November 1954.^[55]

1964 World's Fair upgrades

In December 1957, the state approved a $9.5 million (equivalent to $78.8 million in 2023^[22]) project to widen a 2.1-mile (3.4 km) segment of Whitestone Parkway from Northern Boulevard to the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, build a new bridge over the Flushing River, and improve the parkway to Interstate Highway standards using funds from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, in which the federal government would pay 90 percent of the proposed highway's cost.^[56] The parkway would be expanded from two to four lanes in each direction, and the interchange with the Cross Island Parkway would also be upgraded.^[57] The design process for the upgrade was nearing completion when the state approved the project.^[56] The head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), Robert Moses, stated that the upgrade could start in 1960. At the time of the announcement, the junction with Northern Boulevard was heavily congested because motorists used local streets to connect to the Grand Central Parkway, opposite Flushing Meadows Park from the Whitestone Parkway.^[58] In early 1959, Moses formally asked the United States Army Corps of Engineers for permission to close the existing Flushing River drawbridge permanently.^[59] The drawbridge would then be upgraded to Interstate standards, and a second, fixed span would be built adjacent to the drawbridge.^[57][59] Several boat operators initially opposed the plans—the bridges would be 40.8 feet (12.4 m) above mean high water, shorter than some of the vessels that used the creek—but they eventually withdrew their opposition.^[60]

Flushing Meadows Park was subsequently selected to host the 1964 New York World's Fair. In advance of the World's Fair, city officials announced in early 1960 that they would upgrade the Whitestone Parkway and extend the Van Wyck Expressway northward to the Whitestone Expressway.^[61][62] City officials approved a $10 million (equivalent to $78.9 million in 2023^[22]) project to upgrade the Whitestone Parkway in May 1960,^[63] and work on the parkway began near Northern Boulevard in September 1961.^[64] Contracts for the upgrade were awarded in September 1962.^[65] The portion of the Hutchinson River Parkway south of Bruckner Boulevard and all of the Whitestone Parkway were converted to Interstate standards. The Whitestone Parkway was subsequently renamed the Whitestone Expressway, and the aforementioned segment of the Hutchinson River Parkway was renamed the Hutchinson River Expressway.^[66][67] The new four-lane bridges over the Flushing River opened in June 1963; it temporarily carried two lanes in each direction until the old drawbridge was upgraded.^[68] The Whitestone Expressway upgrade was completed on December 12, 1963.^[69]

The New York City Planning Commission approved the 3.7-mile (6.0 km) extension of the Van Wyck Expressway in April 1960. At the time, that project was planned to cost $3.48 million.^[70] Work on the Van Wyck Expressway Extension, as it was originally known, began in late 1961.^[62][64] The extension opened on December 30, 1963,^[71][72] although the Long Island Expressway and Jewel Avenue interchanges were not yet completed at the time.^[72] The opening of the Jewel Avenue interchange had been delayed by six weeks after a major steel contractor had filed for bankruptcy during the project.^[73]

Interstate Highway

As early as 1961, The New York Times had reported that the Whitestone Expressway was to be known as Interstate 678.^[64] City traffic commissioner Henry A. Barnes subsequently claimed that Moses had proposed the I-678 designation unilaterally.^[74] The Whitestone and Hutchinson River expressways were designated as I-678 c. 1965.^[2][3] The I-678 designation was extended southward over the Van Wyck Expressway to JFK Airport on January 1, 1970.^[5] Although it is designated as a three-digit auxiliary Interstate Highway, I-678 never intersects with its ostensible "parent" Interstate, I-78. Originally, I-78 would have continued eastward through New York City from its current terminus at the Holland Tunnel along the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway and over the Williamsburg Bridge to Queens, where it would have followed the Bushwick Expressway past the southern end of the Van Wyck Expressway to Laurelton. From here, I-78 would have continued northward onto an extended Clearview Expressway and to the Bronx.^[75][76]

Early plans for I-678 had the highway following the Astoria Expressway, a proposed freeway that would run along the NY 25A corridor from I-278 to the Grand Central Parkway.^[75] These plans were mostly canceled by the late 1960s,^[77] leading to the truncation of I-78 to the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (I-278) on January 1, 1970.^[5] In March 1971, Governor Nelson Rockefeller revealed a plan for improving New York City highways. The plan denied funding to several proposed New York City Interstate Highways, including the Astoria Expressway. Rockefeller said that these highways did not qualify for a funding agreement from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952. The New York Times quoted a state official who said that this move had the effect of canceling these projects.^[78] I-78 currently ends at the east portal of the Holland Tunnel.^[79][80]

Late 20th century

In early 1988, both directions of the Whitestone Expressway near Northern Boulevard were temporarily closed because several girders in the southbound viaduct had corroded to the point that a structural failure was imminent.^[81] This part of the Whitestone Expressway, as well as the Van Wyck Expressway from Fowler Avenue south to the Long Island Expressway, were renovated in the mid-1990s.^[82] Starting in 2003, the northbound lanes of the Whitestone Expressway near Northern Boulevard were renovated. The project involved replacing a bascule bridge that had been at the location since the original parkway had opened in 1939, creating two U-turn ramps, and creating a new exit ramp from eastbound Northern Boulevard to Linden Place. Previously, traffic from Northern Boulevard had to cross over three lanes of northbound traffic from the Van Wyck Expressway.^[83][84]

The Jamaica Branch of the AirTrain JFK people mover system was built within the median of the Van Wyck from Atlantic Avenue to the Belt Parkway. Construction started in May 1998.^{[85][86]: 22} The fact that the Jamaica Branch had to be built in the middle of the Van Wyck Expressway, combined with the varying length and curves of the track spans, caused complications during construction. One lane in each direction was closed during the off-peak hours, causing congestion on the Van Wyck.^[86]: 22 The AirTrain's guideways above the Van Wyck were completed in August 2001.^[87] The system opened in December 2003.^[88]